Film:  Women of Tibet:  A Quiet Revolution  (www.womenoftibet.org)

Studio:  Frame of Mind Films

Director:  Rosemary Rawcliffe

Original Music by:  Peter Bloesch

Screening Date:  September 24, 2008 Kansas International Film Festival

Film length:  57 minutes

Rating:  unrated

Reviewed By:  Deborah Ground Buckner (Kansas City Correspondent – Canada)

Women of Tibet:  A Quiet Revolution is the second film in a planned trilogy to focus on the plight and actions of Tibetan women.  The first, Women of Tibet:  Gyalyum Chemo-The Great Mother, told the story of the mother of the Dalai Lama and is available on DVD.  This second offering tells the story of the Tibetan Women Uprising against the occupation of Tibet by Communist China.

In 1949, the invasion of Tibet by Communist China shattered a peaceful existence of one thousand years.  Recalling a time of girlhood before the invasion, women spoke of going barefoot through fields, picking flowers, wearing fashionable clothes and earrings.  It was a time of freedom, and “we were very happy in Tibet.” 

After the occupation, women who had never thought to take part in politics, confining their activities to daily home life, “had the sense to get together and tell the Chinese:  Get back to your country!”  Fifteen thousand women joined together in the movement, and they paid dearly for it, many executed and others imprisoned.  One woman told of three hundred women imprisoned, and only four surviving the ordeal.  Many crumbled emotionally being separated from their children and not knowing their fate.  One woman was sent to prison at the age of 27 and remained there for 28 years, the first 16 spent in a dark room in solitary confinement. 

When a woman in prison learned the Dalai Lama had escaped Tibet into India, she began to sing, and others joined her.  For this, guards took her to a dark cell and tortured her, but she “made a strong commitment to survive.  I tried to remember every detail of prison so, someday, I could tell.” She could not have prayer beads in prison, so she tore bits of her clothing to use as beads. 

Living in exile in India, Tibetan women work to preserve and teach the Tibetan culture.  “Compassion can destroy violence.  It is worthwhile to preserve that part of Tibetan culture.”  The “Voice of Tibet” presents radio broadcasts that reach Tibetans in India and Tibet.  A young woman working on the broadcasts says, “I am fighting a war in the air.” 

With beautiful footage of Himalayas, interviews with Tibetan women and with the Dalai Lama, Rosemary Rawcliffe presents a continuing story of courage and of a people determined to preserve their values and way of life.